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School me on control arm bushings #1155385 01/12/12 05:50 PM 01/12/12 05:50 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 21,318 Manitoba, Canada DaytonaTurbo OP Too Many Posts
DaytonaTurbo OP Too Many Posts Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 21,318 Manitoba, Canada	A year or so ago I started buying parts for my front end rebuild and soon I will actually start working on it. At the time I bought a set of poly upper and lower control arm bushings. Now for the rest of my front end I've got 1" torsion bars, stock front swap bar and new poly bushings for everything. My question is, are the control arm bushings I've bought a good choice or should I look elsewhere? I have heard of offset control arm bushings and I've heard of guys running a mixture of poly and rubber control arm bushings. Will be mostly a street car but trying to set it up to handle half way decently too.

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: DaytonaTurbo] #1155386 01/12/12 06:01 PM 01/12/12 06:01 PM
Joined: May 2003 Posts: 96,664 On The Boat, On The Lake, Wa. ... amxautox Still Retired. Still Posting on Moparts. A Lot.
amxautox Still Retired. Still Posting on Moparts. A Lot. Joined: May 2003 Posts: 96,664 On The Boat, On The Lake, Wa. ...	You can have a decent handling street car with all rubber bushings. I did back in the mid '70s. Only 2 things I added was a front and rear anti-sway bars from Addco. The rear was a common setup using tried and tru links with rubber bushings. The front bar had 'solid' links using hime rods and no rubber bushings. The springs were all stock and so the ride was about the same as stock, but it turned great and mostly flatish. The car was a '71 Sebring with a 318 engine, then I installed a 273 out of a '66 Barracuda S. Ran and handled great, even on the 1/4 mile oval at Port Angeles, Wa. Just depends what all you are going to do with it, and how extensive you want to modify it. Tom "Everyone should believe in something; I believe I'll go fishing." -Henry David Thoreau Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths author unknown

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: DaytonaTurbo] #1155387 01/12/12 06:30 PM 01/12/12 06:30 PM
Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 2,468 Answering the call of the wild T ThermoQuad top fuel
ThermoQuad top fuel T Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 2,468 Answering the call of the wild	LCA's should be in rubber, nos bushings if you can find them. There needs to be some "give" somewhere. LCA's must be boxed [plate welded to the bottom] Uppers should be in plastic some call it urethane. UCA's should be tubular like RMS - no cap junk. Tubular uca's improve the ride and handling. Adjustable ones allow correction for the variances found in every car as well as good caster 3-6 + degrees.

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: amxautox] #1155388 01/12/12 06:39 PM 01/12/12 06:39 PM
Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 12,291 Kent, Wa 340SHORTY Truck Nut
340SHORTY Truck Nut Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 12,291 Kent, Wa	Poly is going to firm it up over the OEM rubber bushings. The offset bushings are used for better adjustment for Caster and Camber.. Energy Susp quit producing the poly lowers because they didnt hold tight like the OEM bushings. They said a lot of people were complaining about them floating back and forth. I am truckless..

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: DaytonaTurbo] #1155389 01/13/12 12:32 AM 01/13/12 12:32 AM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 27,471 So Cal autoxcuda Too Many Posts
autoxcuda Too Many Posts Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 27,471 So Cal	Quote: A year or so ago I started buying parts for my front end rebuild and soon I will actually start working on it. At the time I bought a set of poly upper and lower control arm bushings. Now for the rest of my front end I've got 1" torsion bars, stock front swap bar and new poly bushings for everything. My question is, are the control arm bushings I've bought a good choice or should I look elsewhere? I have heard of offset control arm bushings and I've heard of guys running a mixture of poly and rubber control arm bushings. Will be mostly a street car but trying to set it up to handle half way decently too. Save the money and just put Moog offset 7103 rubber bushings on the UCA's if those will work with a 73-74 Iso front end B-body. IIRC, Moog makes an offset upper dog bone for those cars. That will move the front and rear bushing (arms of the A-arm) in or out depending on how you install them. But does that car take shims for UCA alignment adjustment? If so, just space out the rear and see if you can get 3 degrees of positve caster

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: autoxcuda] #1155390 01/13/12 05:43 AM 01/13/12 05:43 AM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 21,318 Manitoba, Canada DaytonaTurbo OP Too Many Posts
DaytonaTurbo OP Too Many Posts Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 21,318 Manitoba, Canada	Had a look on moog's website and theirs specifies a different, non-offset UCA bushing for 73+ B body. So I guess that option is out. Looks like for my car they make just stock replacement stuff. Nobody's going to make an aftermarket UCA for this body style either. Not looking to make the best handling car out there, just want to optimize what I can while I have it apart. Doesn't really look like there's much I can do then to play with caster and camber. I think the ones I have are the energy suspension poly upper and lower bushings. They're sitting in a box somewhere, I'd have to check. Should I then use them for the uppers and buy a set of regular moog lowers?

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: DaytonaTurbo] #1155391 01/13/12 07:02 AM 01/13/12 07:02 AM
Joined: Dec 2004 Posts: 801 central CT cudazappa super stock
cudazappa super stock Joined: Dec 2004 Posts: 801 central CT	Quote: Nobody's going to make an aftermarket UCA for this body style either. Firm Feel makes a tubular UCA for the 73-81 cars. Also you can get more adjustability if you grind the slots on the brackets the UCA cross shaft mounts too. I hope Tom chimes in again with what he did with his St. Regis. 1971 Challenger

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: DaytonaTurbo] #1155392 01/24/12 06:01 PM 01/24/12 06:01 PM
Joined: Sep 2003 Posts: 1,688 Marlboro, NY, USA R Rick_Ehrenberg top fuel
Rick_Ehrenberg top fuel R Joined: Sep 2003 Posts: 1,688 Marlboro, NY, USA	Single best mod you can do to a 73-up B-body: SOLID (alum, iron) K-member "isolators". NOT URETHANE. Metal. Rick E.

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: Rick_Ehrenberg] #1155393 01/25/12 07:50 PM 01/25/12 07:50 PM
Joined: Jan 2012 Posts: 489 NE B bigtail mopar
bigtail mopar B Joined: Jan 2012 Posts: 489 NE	I'm surprised Rick didn't mention this, but the new issue of Mopar Action has a place where you can get offset URETHANE bushings listed. Way better than spongy offset rubber ones. They are from the land down under. Check out the newest issue in the steering upgrade article. This page is made up completely of recycled electrons.

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: bigtail] #1155394 01/25/12 08:03 PM 01/25/12 08:03 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,376 NORTHERN CA HUSTLESTUFF pro stock
HUSTLESTUFF pro stock Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,376 NORTHERN CA	I just turned some aluminum k-member bushings for my 74 Charger. After all said and done I should have just gone here... http://www.solidbushings.com/catalog.html and spent $199 for the set. Materials with shipping was about $100 and the oblong shape for the k member was not easy to do without mill. I used Firm Feel's UCA's but haven't done an alignment. Waiting for a WheelFit to measure offset for the big Goodyear Bluestreaks. Also went with big sway and tbars from Firm Feel, Greasable lca pins and bushings. "Were in it to win it. Anything less will end up being..... A whole lot of fun doing!!" UNLAWFL RIP UN

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: bigtail] #1155395 02/09/12 02:42 AM 02/09/12 02:42 AM
Joined: Dec 2011 Posts: 16 Minnesota B billrabe member
billrabe member B Joined: Dec 2011 Posts: 16 Minnesota	Quote: I'm surprised Rick didn't mention this, but the new issue of Mopar Action has a place where you can get offset URETHANE bushings listed. Way better than spongy offset rubber ones. They are from the land down under. Check out the newest issue in the steering upgrade article. Do you have the part number of the offset UCA bushings from down under that can be used for a 73 B body Charger? The Moog K7103's don't work for the 73s, they are too small. I wonder how much they cost? I don't have access to Mopar Action.

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: billrabe] #1155396 02/09/12 02:56 AM 02/09/12 02:56 AM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 18,493 Granite Bay CA Kern Dog Striving for excellence
Kern Dog Striving for excellence Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 18,493 Granite Bay CA	Quote: I don't have access to Mopar Action. Incarcerated? Homeless? ANYONE with an address can get a subscription, right?

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: HUSTLESTUFF] #1155397 02/09/12 10:53 AM 02/09/12 10:53 AM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 1,645 Phila. Pa. Mattax top fuel
Mattax top fuel Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 1,645 Phila. Pa.	The problem with using solid UCA bushings is that the rotational axis for the bushings are not in line with each other. Draw a picture of the UCA and the axis of each bushing, you'll see what I mean. That's why those joints must be compliant or rod end. Don't feel too bad, we machined up a nylon bushing to test fit before we realized the concept was flawed.

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: Mattax] #1155398 02/09/12 10:59 PM 02/09/12 10:59 PM
Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 6,257 acworth / N. georgia - south e... cheapstreetdustr master
cheapstreetdustr master Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 6,257 acworth / N. georgia - south e...	on welding the boxed plates on the LCA i suggest you put the front end together and set up the alignment first then weld up or atleast tac the plates on with the suspension loaded.. those two stamped pieces have alot of movement. (sort of a sissor effect) and if you weld them loose and off the car..you could adversely effect the amount of adjustment in the alignment. i had this isssue..i boxed up a set when they were loose/off the car...and couldnt get the castor where i needed it..because the supports forced it in a fixed position. after installing a new set then getting my alignment where it needed to be.. we tacted them in loaded..then finish welded them it seemed to work very well after that.. FWIW 365" Iron J heads,,3480lbs best 1.39 60ft on SS springs.10.54,124 mph ...6.67 1/8th et.average 60fts 1.46 w/ small cam &.063 no2 pill tagged & insured [image][/image]

Re: School me on control arm bushings [Re: Rick_Ehrenberg] #1155399 02/10/12 03:37 AM 02/10/12 03:37 AM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 21,318 Manitoba, Canada DaytonaTurbo OP Too Many Posts
DaytonaTurbo OP Too Many Posts Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 21,318 Manitoba, Canada	Quote: Single best mod you can do to a 73-up B-body: SOLID (alum, iron) K-member "isolators". NOT URETHANE. Metal. Rick E. Already had that planned. Quote: on welding the boxed plates on the LCA i suggest you put the front end together and set up the alignment first then weld up or atleast tac the plates on with the suspension loaded.. those two stamped pieces have alot of movement. (sort of a sissor effect) and if you weld them loose and off the car..you could adversely effect the amount of adjustment in the alignment. i had this isssue..i boxed up a set when they were loose/off the car...and couldnt get the castor where i needed it..because the supports forced it in a fixed position. after installing a new set then getting my alignment where it needed to be.. we tacted them in loaded..then finish welded them it seemed to work very well after that.. FWIW Thanks for the tip!

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